The Pontiff of the Church of Rome spoke today and here are a couple of reports:

17 February 2013

Vatican City. Pope Benedict XVI called Sunday on the Church and its faithful to “renew” and “refocus on God by disowning pride and egoism” in his penultimate Angelus prayer before he steps down, AFP reported.
“The Church calls on all its members to renew themselves…” http://www.focus-fen.net/index.php?id=n299664

17 February 2013

VATICAN CITY: Pope Benedict XVI called on the Roman Catholic Church and its faithful on Sunday to “renew themselves” as tens of thousands of pilgrims and tourists attended his penultimate Angelus prayers…

Benedict, whose surpise [sic] announcement last Monday that he would step down after eight years rocked the Church, called on the world’s faithful to “refocus on God by disowning pride and egoism”.

If Benedict’s successor is the last pope, I believe that the type of “renewal” that he will end up pushing for will basically lead to the end of the Church of Rome (cf. Revelation 17:15-18).

Another matter that has come up is the idea that the election rules for the next pope be changed to speed up the process:

While Pope Benedict slips away to a Lenten retreat, the Vatican struggles to determine whether it can legally speed up the process for choosing his successor. That’s a bad idea, experts say…

The Vatican’s vague announcements feed the fire. The latest was spokesman Rev. Frederico Lombardi comments Friday that they were examining whether they can legally speed up the election for Benedict’s successor.

So the idea of changing certain procedures and/or timing related to the election of the next pope is being considered. It could, presuming it happens, get some to later conclude that the next pope is or could be an antipope. Changing anything related the election of the next pope should be considered as dangerous. If the next pope is the last pope, he will be an antipope. He will feign acceptance of the Catholic faith, ultimately do signs and wonders (2 Thessalonians 2:9), but ultimately promote non-Catholic beliefs (Revelation 11:15) and lead to the destruction of Rome (Revelation 17:15-18).

Certain Catholic prophecies warn that a major “antipope” is to come, as well as warn that its church will be changed, have some type of clever “renewal,” and also be destroyed:

Frederick William Faber (died 1863):…Antichrist…Many believe in a demonical incarnation—this will not be so—but he will be utterly possessed…His doctrine as apparent contradiction of no religion, yet a new religion…He has an attending pontiff, so separating regal and prophetic office (Edward. Prophecy for Today. Imprimatur + A.J. Willinger, Bishop of Monterey-Fresno; Reprint: Tan Books and Publishers, Rockford (IL), 1984, p. 87).

Anna-Katarina Emmerick(19th century): The Church is in great danger…The Protestant doctrine and that of the schismatic Greeks are to spread everywhere. I now see that in this place (Rome) the (Catholic) Church is being so cleverly undermined, that there hardly remain a hundred or so priests who have not been deceived. They all work for the destruction, even the clergy. A great destruction is now at hand…I saw that many pastors allowed themselves to be taken up with ideas that were dangerous to the Church. They were building a great, strange, and extravagant Church. Everyone was admitted in it in order to be united and to have equal rights: Evangelicals, Catholics, sects of every description. Such was to be the new Church…I saw again a new and odd-looking Church which they were trying to build. There was nothing holy about it… (Dupont Y. Catholic Prophecy: The Coming Chastisement. TAN Books, Rockford (IL), 1973, pp. 66, 71, 116)

Yves Dupont {writer interpreting A. Emmerick}: They wanted to make a new Church, a Church of human manufacture, but God had other designs…An anti-pope shall be set up in Rome (Dupont, p. 116).

Oba Prophecy: It will come when the Church authorities issue directives to support a new cult, when priests are forbidden to celebrate in any other, when the highest positions in the Church are given to perjurers and hypocrites, when only the renegades are admitted to occupy those positions. (Dupont, p. 115)

Ted and Maureen Flynn (20th century): Catholic prophecy warns us of severe problems facing the papacy in these end times…chaos will be within our midst. An Antipope will seize papal authority…It will be those who hold fast to the truths of the faith who will be labeled as the perpetrators of this horrible schism, according to some visionaries. (Flynn Ted and Maureen. The Thunder of Justice. MaxKol Communications, Inc. Sterling (VA), 1993, p. 255)

Jeanne le Royer (d. 1798): I see that when the Second Coming of Christ approaches a bad priest will do much harm to the Church (Culligan E. The Last World War and the End of Time. The book was blessed by Pope Paul VI, 1966. TAN Books, Rockford (IL), p. 128).

Bl. Anna-Maria Taigi (19th century): At the end, he will have the gift of miracles (Birch DA. Trial, Tribulation & Triumph: Before During and After Antichrist. Queenship Publishing Company, Goleta (CA), 1996, pp. 362-363).

Priest O’Connor (20th century?): This final false prophet will be a bishop of the church and will lead all religions into becoming one. (The False Prophet. Living in the Final Generation. http://www.geocities.com/rebornempowered/ApparitionsofMary.htm 10/12/07)

Priest Paul Kramer (21st century):The errors of Orthodoxy and of Protestantism will be embraced by that false church, it will be an ecumenical church because the Anti-Pope will be recognized by the world—not by the faithful, but by the world—by the secular world and the secular governments. (Kramer P. The Imminent Chastisement for Not Fulfilling Our Lady’s Request. An edited transcript of a speech given at the Ambassadors of Jesus and Mary Seminar in Glendale, California, September 24, 2004.THE FATIMA CRUSADER Issue 80, Summer 2005, pp. 32-45 http://www.fatimacrusader.com/cr80/cr80pg32.asp viewed 4/15/08)

Blessed Joachim (died 1202): Towards the end of the world Antichrist will overthrow the Pope and usurp his See (Connor, p. 76).

St. Francis of Assisi (d. 1226): There will be an uncanonically elected pope who will cause a great Schism, there will be divers thoughts preached which will cause many, even those in the different orders, to doubt, yea even agree with those heretics which will cause My order to divide, then will there be such universal dissentions and persecutions that if these days were not shortened even the elect would be lost (Culleton, p. 130).

Gregory the Great, Pope (d. 604): In those days, near the end…an army of priests and two-thirds of the Christians will join the Schism. (Culleton, R. Gerald. The Reign of Antichrist, p. 122)

Yves Dupont {reader and collector of Catholic prophecies}: “prophecies are quite explicit about the election of an anti-pope…Many prophecies predict an anti-pope and a schism” (Dupont, pp. 34,60-61)

G. Rossi (1873): We must observe that St. Malachy does not mention the last Pope as a distinct person from the preceding one, whom he styles Glory of the Olive. He merely says, “During the last persecution of the Church, Peter II, a Roman, shall reign. He shall feed the flock in many tribulations, at the end of which the City of the Seven Hills (Rome) will be destroyed, and the awful Judge shall judge his people.” According to St. Malachy, then, only ten, or at most eleven, popes remain to be in future more or less legitimately elected. We say more or less legitimately elected, because out of those future popes it is to be feared that one or two will be unlawfully elected as anti-popes. (Rossi, p. 139)

Priest E. Sylvester Berry (20th century) As indicated by the resemblance to a lamb, the prophet will probably set himself up in Rome as a sort of antipope during the vacancy of the papal throne . . .(Berry E.S. The Apocalypse of St. John. First published 1921. http://journals.aol.com/langosh5/Father_E_Sylvester_Berry/ 10/12/07)

Priest Herman Kramer (20th century): In accord with the text this is unmistakably a PAPAL ELECTION . . . But at this time the great powers may take a menacing attitude to hinder the election of the logical and expected candidate by threats of a general apostasy, assassination or imprisonment of this candidate if elected. This would suppose an extremely hostile mind in the governments of Europe towards the Church, because an extended interregnum in the papacy is always disastrous and more so in a time of universal persecution. If Satan would contrive to hinder a papal election, the Church would suffer great travail … one…destined for the papacy at the time will institute the needed reforms. A general council may decree the reforms…The lax clergy at the time will extol the conditions then existing…The dragon is a symbolic term for the evil world powers…They will try to make the Church a “state church” everywhere. This is only possible if they can subject the pope to their wills and compel him to teach and rule as they direct. That would be literally devouring the papacy. (Kramer H.B. L. The Book of Destiny, pp. 278,285).

Thus there are many Catholic writers who have warned of some type of an antipope, and that there could even be issues with his election–it will seem fine, but perhaps it was not. Irrespective of Catholic writings, the reality is that if the next pope is the last pope, he will be the final Antichrist.

During the final phase of the work, the faithful in God’s Church will take a stand against the views of those who will support the compromised persecuting religious power (cf. Revelation 17:1-6). And though aspects of this have occurred throughout history, in the end it will be a major testing of their patience (Revelation 14:8-12). Related, however, to this when the more faithful in the COG (which would seem to be led by the Continuing Church of God) publicly identifies the King of the North as well as keeps reporting about the final Pope/Antichrist (the initial reporting about the final pope will likely get lost in the media until later as many will write about the final pope) and media coverage gets generated, the Catholic scholars (probably getting some direction from the last pope) will tear through COG literature and attempt to challenge the credibility and the integrity of the COG message–this will initially cause “vigilante-type” persecution, but will also be followed by more institutionalized persecution (Matthew 24:-10; Daniel 11:28-35; 7:25).

We are living in the end times and it is certainly possible that the next pope will be the final Antichrist and will trigger this persecution.

Why?

Because we are nearly finished with the 6,000 years that God has given humankind to rule itself.

So, it is possible that the next pope will be the antipope of Catholic prophecies and the final Antichrist of biblical prophecies.

Pope Benedict’s call to “renew’ and “refocus” is more dangerous than he has imagined.

We are living in the last days.

Articles of related interest may include:

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